BARRIE, Ont.  Police came to the rescue after a kitten managed to get itself stuck in a can of Chef Boyardee in central Ontario Tuesday.

Answering an unrelated call, police accidentally stumbled across the small kitten with its head jammed in the can near the steps of a residence.

At first, police saw what appeared to be a frozen squirrel in a can on the ground. Then the can moved. Closer examination showed that it was actually a small kitten with his head stuck.

The kitten appears to have got himself into trouble through simple misadventure, Sgt. Doug Henderson said.

"It looks like he was probably just trying to get some Beefaroni," he said.

Officers tried unsuccessfully to free the animal, but they were able to cut a hole in the can so the kitten could breathe. Police rushed the creature to the OSPCA office.

Shelter staff safely removed the can and the cat is doing fine, according to Kim Thompson, who works at the OSPCA in Barrie, Ont. The kitten will remain in shelter custody until a suitable owner is found.

For example I have three males (Whiffy, Skeezix, and Buddy), and five females that I can hold without fear of being shredded. Two of those are my absolute favorites, and are female. “Boo”, and “Cooter”. “Callie”, and her daughters
“Niver” (short for conniver), and “Tiggy” are the others.

Our cats are all “rescues” directly from nature to us.

In 1994 we had 27 cats up at the barn. A neighbor at the time was irresponsible with his cat having never had the cat speyed. We finally took that cat away from him, and did it ourselves along with 26 of the others. Currently the four eighteen year olds are what remain of that crowd. The others have all come to us since then.

21
posted on 03/27/2012 6:31:26 AM PDT
by rockinqsranch
(Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)

When I was a child we had a large black and white tom. For some odd reason, my mother did not have him “fixed” and he went on to sire endless generations of kittens. I must have been ten years old and I was standing on the porch of a neighbor who loved cats and had zillions of them. The smell was overwhelming!

“I love all cats,” she intoned and then her head swiveled around and she screamed “except THAT one!” I turned and, of course, saw my own beloved Niger nonchalantly walking down the block. He was the dad of all her cats.

I love your cat’s names. Two writers who adored cats: Hemingway and Shirley Jackson. Jackson claimed her cats wrote all her books.

I'm convinced that there is a range of intelligence in any species. I've known cats that were lovable dummies and others that were standoffish smart. But Rarely, I come across a cat that is an Einstein of the species. I saw this with the cattle on the farm, too. I even named one little black calf ‘Albert’ because he was so precocious and so attuned to language commands. You see it in horses and dogs, too, so I suspect it is common to the animal kingdom.

BTW, I lost my little Einstein, Crookedtail, last year. He was nearly twenty and probably the smartest cat I have ever known. He understood the English language and even tried to mimick speech. He was quite capable of saying MILK when the fridge opened. And yes, he made that word/sound very differently from the other sounds he used. If he was trying to get my undivided attention, he would have an almost stuttering, random emphasis sounds cadence to his meowings, as if he was trying to make human sentence structures. ... Oh how I miss that little guy!

“....He understood the English language and even tried to mimick speech....”.

Yes. We too have had a couple such mimes over the years, but dogs. We’ve had as many dogs (rescues again) as cats in our lives. Comical, and interesting to watch. Smart as a whip animals. I don’t recall any cat mimes amongst those that we have had, but that doesn’t mean a thing. We have had cats that literally talk to us with their facial expressions.

29
posted on 03/27/2012 9:21:18 AM PDT
by rockinqsranch
(Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)

Reminds me of this one kitten in a litter I found. The little calico lost most of it's leg ---so I called her 'Footy'. 'Footy' was the first kitten adopted from the litter. A young girl would be the new owner. The young girl also limped since birth. I remember calling the little girl about 2 weeks later--- asking how 'Footy' was doing. Sweet kid.... She told me that they don't call her Footy because it brings attention to her disability. I can't explain the emotions i had then but I had to hold back tears...

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